The Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute using tiny gold pellets has lessened rectal problems with radiation treatments.

Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute researchers have found that highly targeted radiation therapy for prostate cancer can ensure that the majority of persons with this tumor will not have any long-term rectal damage.

A group of 231 study participants received a combination of intensity-modulated radiation and seed marker-based image-guided radiation therapies (IM-IGRT) for prostate cancer then were tracked for 1.4 years. Nearly 98 percent of these participants had no rectal damage, according to Todd Scarbrough, M.D., principal investigator, associate professor, radiation medicine, OHSU School of Medicine; and an OHSU Cancer Institute member. This combination allows for millimeter targeting accuracy of the tumor………..

The image-guided radiation method used placed tiny gold pellets in the subject’s prostate prior to treatment and then imaged these markers immediately prior to treatment. Placing of the markers is fast and relatively painless. The heightened accuracy allows for a more precise radiation dose and a more targeted area for treatment of the tumor.

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